dat tape drive diagnostics

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From: "D. Thomas Podnar" <tom@microlite.com>
Subject: Re: HP DAT tape drive isn't holding up
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 01:35:09 GMT

: I have an HP DAT24eU tape drive.  It's about 18 months old.  I do 2
: masters (3.5 GB) and 3 incrementals (0.5 GB) per week.  I don't bother
: with compression, due to the small size of the backups.  I usually buy
: new tapes every 3 months.
: 
: Lately I'm getting an I/O error when the backup starts, about once a
: week.  (It's an unattended backup.)  Power cycling the drive gets
: things going again.  I've had the drive in to our local tech for a
: good cleaning and going over.  The intermittent problem persists,
: indeed worsens.
: 
: Does this drive have such a limited life?  At this point I'm planning
: to buy another drive, install it, and send this one back to HP to be
: rebuilt.  Then I guess in 18 months it'll be time to reinstall the
: rebuilt drive, and send in the new one I'm preparing to buy now.
: 
: But should I have to do this?  Is this typical?  Any other ideas or
: suggestions?
: 
: Nathan / Theatre Effects
: www.theatrefx.com

The DAT24 is a pretty smart device. It may be able to tell you what is
wrong with it, or its environment, using its TapeAlert(tm) diagnostics
capabilities.

TapeAlert compatible drives like the DAT24 can tell you if they need
cleaned, if they have been using bad media, and in some cases if they
are running in an undervolt scenario or in a system with poor termination.
They can even tell you if they are about to fail, if you have software
capable of querying them.



Diagnostics Method 1
--------------------
If you are using a recent release of BackupEDGE, you can ask the
tape drive to return any diagnostics messages to you.

/usr/lib/edge/bin/edge.tape -V /dev/xStp0

If you aren't using BackupEDGE you may download a copy from the web
site, install it (it will run for 60 days in evaluation mode),
and then run the command.

If you are using other software, install the eval and issue the command
right after you insert a tape for a few days, and right after you get
an I/O error.

BackupEDGE 01.01.08 will query the drive for TapeAlert messages and
place any results in normal nightly backup reports.

BackupEDGE can be completely removed at any time by using
Custom / Software Manager.


Diagnostics Method 2
--------------------
If you can move the tape drive to a Windows machine, HP has an excellent
program called TapeTools. It will thoroughly diagnose the drive, and also
allow you to upgrade to the latest firmware, which is L005 for that device.


Method 2 provides a very thorough test of the drive itself.

Method 1 may provide better environmental diagnostics, as you are testing
it on the system, cabling and media you use daily.



Tom
---
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